From Jest to Earnest

From Jest to Earnest

The Project Gutenberg EBook of From Jest to Earnest, by E. P. Roe #9 in our series by E. P. Roe
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Title: From Jest to Earnest
Author: E. P. Roe
Release Date: July, 2004 [EBook #6102] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on November 6, 2002]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FROM JEST TO EARNEST ***

This eBook was created by Charles Aldarondo

The Works of E. P. ROE
FROM JEST TO EARNEST

DEDICATION.

This book is dedicated in fraternal affection to the friend of my youth and maturer years--the REV. A. MOSS MERWIN, who, with every avenue of earthly ambition open to him at home, and with every motive urged upon him to remain at home, has been for years, and is now, a faithful missionary in a foreign land.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
. A PRACTICAL JOKE
CHAPTER II
. THE VICTIM
CHAPTER III
. PUZZLED AND INTERESTED
CHAPTER IV
. A LITTLE PAGAN
CHAPTER V
. PLAIN TALK
CHAPTER VI
. A SLEIGH-RIDE AND SOMETHING MORE
CHAPTER VII
. ANOTHER SPELL THAN BEAUTY'S
CHAPTER VIII
. FINDING ONE'S LEVEL
CHAPTER IX
. "THE OTHER SET"
CHAPTER X
. HUMAN NATURE
CHAPTER XI
. A POSSIBLE TRAGEDY
CHAPTER XII
. MISS MARSDEN ASKS SOMBRE QUESTIONS
CHAPTER XIII
. A LOVER QUENCHED
CHAPTER XIV
. LOTTIE A MYSTERIOUS PROBLEM
CHAPTER XV
. HEMSTEAD SEES "OUR SET"
CHAPTER XVI
. HOW WOMAN MAKES OR MARS
CHAPTER XVII
. MIDNIGHT VIGILS
CHAPTER XVIII
. HEMSTEAD'S HEAVY GUN AND ITS RECOIL
CHAPTER XIX
. THE PREACHER TAUGHT BY THE PAGAN
CHAPTER XX
. THE DAWNING LIGHT
CHAPTER XXI
. MISUNDERSTOOD
CHAPTER XXII
. "YOU MUST WAIT AND SEE"
CHAPTER XXIII
. A RATIONALIST OF THE OLD SCHOOL
CHAPTER XXIV
. THE TERROR OF A GREAT FEAR
CHAPTER XXV
. A TRUE KNIGHT
CHAPTER XXVI
. ON A CRUMBLING ICE-FLOE
CHAPTER XXVII
. THE MEETING AND GREETING
CHAPTER XXVIII
. THE TRIAL OF LOVE
CHAPTER XXIX
. HEMSTEAD'S ADVICE, AND LOTTIE'S COLORS
CHAPTER XXX
. AROUND THE YULE-LOG
CHAPTER XXXI
. UNDER THE MISTLETOE
CHAPTER XXXII
. THE CHRISTMAS SUNDAY
CHAPTER XXXIII
. THE END OF THE "JEST"
CHAPTER XXXIV
. LOYAL
CHAPTER XXXV
. MR. DIMMERLY CONCLUDES TO "MEDDLE"
CHAPTER XXXVI
. A NIGHT IN THE SNOW
CHAPTER XXXVII
. IN EARNEST

FROM JEST TO EARNEST.
CHAPTER I
.
A PRACTICAL JOKE.

On a cloudy December morning a gentleman, two ladies, and a boy stepped down from the express train at a station just above the Highlands on the Hudson. A double sleigh, overflowing with luxurious robes, stood near, and a portly coachman with difficulty restrained his spirited horses while the little party arranged themselves for a winter ride. Both the ladies were young, and the gentleman's anxious and almost tender solicitude for one of them seemed hardly warranted by her blooming cheeks and sprightly movements. A close observer might soon suspect that his assiduous attentions were caused by a malady of his own rather than by indisposition on her part.
The other young lady received but scant politeness, though seemingly in greater need of it. But the words of Scripture applied to her beautiful companion, "Whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance." She had been surfeited all her life with attention, and though she would certainly have felt its absence, as she would the loss of wealth, life-long familiarity with both led her to place no special value upon them.
Therefore during the half-hour's ride her spirits rose with the rapid motion, and even the leaden sky and winter's bleakness could not prevent the shifting landscape from being a source of pleasure to her city eyes, while the devotion of her admirer or lover was received as a matter of course.
The frosty air brought color into her companion's usually pale face, but not of an attractive kind, for the north-east wind that deepened the vermilion in the beauty's cheek could only tinge that of the other with a ghastly blue. The delicate creature shivered and sighed.
"I wish we were there."
"Really, Bel, I sometimes think your veins are filled with water instead of blood. It's not cold to-day, is it, Mr. De Forrest?"
"Well, all I can say with certainty," he replied, "is that I have been in a glow for the last two hours. I thought it was chilly before that."
"You are near to 'glory' then," cried the boy saucily, from his